OUR LAST MIGF DINNER AT PUTRAJAYA MARRIOTT HOTEL'S MIDORI JAPANESE RESTAURANT AND TUSCANY ITALIAN RESTAURANT AND 2 SPECIAL VENUES WAS AN EPIC CULINARY ADVENTURE THAT WAS APTLY DESCRIBED BY DATO STEVE DAY AS 'ONE TO REMEMBER FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES'!
Definitely a night to remember and more so when a man currently worth RM 13.4 billion and RM 24 billion in January 2014 when he relists IOI Properties actually sang for us! For free! Usually he charges RM 300,000 per song with every sen going to charity!
That is tycoon and do-gooder Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng for you!
Not only did he astound us by gracing the occasion and being with us from 7.30pm till 12.30 am, he was so humble and friendly. Hailing from a poor family, he knows the importance of education and his Yayasan Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng scholarships award up to RM 200,000 of tuition fees.
At first most of Dato Steve Day's guests who did not know Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng personally were rather shy to ask if they could take photos with him. However, Tan Sri Lee mingled with the 20 guests, making them feel at ease in the presence of the 6th richest man in Malaysia and the world's 276th richest man!
This is valid only for now. He is now worth RM 13.4 billion but when Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng relists his IOI Properties in January or during the first quarter of 2014, he will leapfrog to be the 3rd richest man, after Robert Kuok and Ananda Krishnan and overtaking Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay of Genting and Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow of Public Bank! By then he should be worth a staggering RM 24 billion!
We listened intently as Dato Steve Day read Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng's biodata. Said Dato Steve Day, "Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng comes from a very poor background, growing up in a rubber plantation where his father ran a small food shop. They were so poor he left school at 11 to help augment his family's income by selling icecream on a bicycle for 4 years before returning to finish high school.
"At 22 he applied for a job with Dunlop Estate but was rejected due to his lack of English. Tan Sri says his biggest achievement was in 1989 when he bought Dunlop Estate! That was such sweet 'revenge'!
"As a result of growing up in a rubber plantation with Indian tappers, Tan Sri is fluent in Tamil."
I asked Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng if this was true.
He grinned, "My Tamil is better than my English! If you close your eyes and hear me speak Tamil, you will never realise a Chinese is talking!"
Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng also left his guests astounded and speechless when he thanked Dato Steve Day for inviting his hotel to participate in MIGF. "Please excuse me as my English is poor because I am not educated like you. Please forgive me if I speak broken English."
Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng, your English is fine and with your stature and wealth, you can speak in any language and we all understand you as you speak the universal language of generosity with Yayasan Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng!
Dato Steve Day then requested if Tan Sri Lee would sing a song as the ultimate grand finale.
We held our breath. After all, most folks like him tend not to bother...
Beamed Tan Sri Dato Lee Shin Cheng, "To thank all of you for coming tonight, I am happy to sing one song for you."
He went to the elevated platform where the musicians had performed all evening and sang the Mandarin hit song 'The Moon Represents My Heart' made famous by the late Teresa Teng.
The last MIGF dinner in Kuala Lumpur ended as it started---stupendously!
Truly the best for the last.
The only thing missing was a firework display with 'MIGF' and 'Putrajaya Marriott' emblazoned on the night sky!
Today, 2 November will be MIGF's FINAL dinner at The Westin Langkawi island!
in
OUR MAGNIFICENT TABLE SETTING AT TUSCANY RESTAURANT
TAN SRI DATO LEE SHIN CHENG, KEE HUA CHEE AND DATO STEVE DAY
THE END
No comments:
Post a Comment